78 THE RIFLE AND HOUND IN CEYLON, chap. v. 



the distance was I cannot say ; it may have been 

 600 yards, or 800, or more. It was shallow water the 

 whole way : we therefore mounted our horses and 

 rode up to him. Upon reaching him, I gave him a 

 settling ball in the head, and we examined him. The 

 heavy ball had passed completely through his hips, 

 crushing both joints, and, of course, rendering him 

 powerless at once. 



The shore appeared full half a mile from us on our 

 return, and I could hardly credit my own eyes, the 

 distance was so immense, and yet the ball had passed 

 clean through the animal's body. 



It was of course a chance shot, and, even with this 

 acknowledgment, it must appear rather like the 'mar- 

 vellous ' to a stranger ; — this is my misfortune, not my 

 fault. I certainly never made such a shot before or 

 since ; it was a sheer lucky hit, say at 600 yards ; and 

 the wonderful power of the rifle was thus displayed in 

 the ball perforating the large body of the buffalo at 

 this range. This shot was made with a round ball, 

 not a cone. The round belted ball for this heavy 

 two-grooved rifle weighs three ounces. The conical 

 ball weighs a little more than four ounces. 



While describing the long shots performed by this 

 particular rifle, I cannot help recounting a curious 

 chance with a large rogue elephant in Topari tank. 

 This tank or lake is, like most others in Ceylon, the 

 result of vast labour in past ages. Valleys were 



